On her new podcast, The Fifth Judge, which she hosts with husband Marius Lepure, Oti said the episode had been “uncomfortable to watch”. She was particularly critical of the harsh marks, including Craig Revel Horwood’s score of four for Cach Mercer.
Oti said: “The judging was crazy. I think some people were massively underscored.
“It was so uncomfortable to watch, and then I thought people were massively overscored.”
She also suggested that head judge Shirley Ballas’s guest appearance on Dancing With The Stars had altered the tone of the competition. According to Oti, Shirley and Craig appeared to compete over who could take on the role of the “mean judge”.
Oti Mabuse has criticised the “mean” judging on Strictly after viewers complained about inconsistent scoring during Saturday’s show
The 36-year-old professional dancer was one of Strictly’s most successful professionals during her time on the show from 2015 to 2021
Oti continued: “I think Shirley went to America and was the mean judge, and she got all this press.
“She flipped Dancing With The Stars upside down, and then she came back to Strictly and flipped Strictly upside down.
“Then Craig said, ‘That’s my job. You can do it in America, but my job is to be the mean judge.’
“What it did to me was make me think, ‘Oh, this is such a sad show.’ I can see these couples are working so hard, and I can see Lacey [Turner] is growing in confidence.”
She added: “They made it about who could be the mean judge, and completely took away from the hard work put in by both the professional and the celebrity.”
Marius then remarked: “Even Anton was being a bit too much.”
Oti briefly avoided discussing her sister Motsi before concluding: “Anyway, that was my rant.”
Fans were outraged by Cach’s scores on Saturday, once again accusing the judges of underrating contestants and applying their scoring inconsistently.
On The Fifth Judge podcast with husband Marius Lepure, Oti said she found the show “uncomfortable to watch” while criticising the harsh scores
Oti pictured during her time on the show with 2020 winner Bill Bailey
One viewer wrote: “So undermarked. I LOVE watching them dance.” Another said: “It feels like the judges are doing a bit with their scoring now and it’s boring. A 4?! Absolutely no way.”
Others commented: “This was beautiful x, disagree with the scoring so much!!!!” and “Absolutely LOVE this couple. Maddie is new and doing her best, Cach is a fabulous natural dancer… something doesn’t add up. Why do the judges need to be so harsh with their words?”
Another fan said: “This did NOT deserve a 4 or 6! What is their problem? Every week they are extremely harsh with this couple; nothing they seem to do is good enough.”
However, some viewers supported the judges’ decision. One wrote: “That was a poor dance, and not having basic heel leads nailed by now suggests insufficient practice.”
Another added: “The professional in this pairing doesn’t seem to know the ballroom techniques and bizarrely keeps doing it. It’s letting Cach down. It’s weird.”
Cach and Maddie found themselves in the dance-off against Bethany Antonia and Nancy Xu.
The results show ended in a tense split among the judges. Anton Du Beke voted to save Mercer and Ingoldsby, while Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse chose to keep Antonia and Xu.
The decision then went to head judge Shirley Ballas, whose casting vote saved Cach and Maddie.
